Carlos Ghosn was a businessman with a cult-like following.
Credited with single-handedly turning around the fortunes of several major companies,
he was showered with awards, flattering profiles and even appeared on a stamp.
But now, one of the world’s most powerful executives is in the limelight, as a fugitive.
So who is Carlos Ghosn and how did we get here?
This story is turning into a global catch-me-if-you-can caper.
He claims he’s the victim of a conspiracy to oust him.
This is just cruel and they’re punishing us.
It was an unexpected surprise. I'm shocked and confused.
These allegations are untrue, and I should have never been arrested in the first place.
His dramatic cross-country escape has enthralled people around the world.
Ghosn gained business fame for creating what was essentially the world’s largest automaker.
He held the Chairman and CEO position for a strategic alliance among three car companies
Renault, Mitsubishi and most famously, Nissan.
And now, more than a year after he was first arrested over alleged financial wrongdoing,
Ghosn has become a fugitive on Interpol’s wanted list.
At 65 years old, Carlos Ghosn carried out an elaborate escape from his home in Japan
to Lebanon, reportedly with the help of a former American Green Beret.
This was no easy feat, especially considering that he was under 24-hour camera surveillance
and house arrest, with virtually no internet access.
Lebanese by heritage, Ghosn is a citizen of three different countries.
Brazil, where he was born.
Lebanon, where he grew up.
And France, where he was educated at some of the country’s most prestigious schools.
He later credited that diverse background as the main reason why he was able to make
inroads in Japan’s corporate culture, which has traditionally viewed foreigners with suspicion.
Following his schooling, Ghosn spent 18 years with tire-maker Michelin,
eventually working his way up to Michelin’s chief executive of North American operations.
In 1996, he moved over to Renault, where he was put in charge of the automaker’s
struggling South America division.
His dramatic restructuring of the branch, and its subsequent return to profitability,
earned him the nickname ‘Le cost killer.’
Three years later, as Renault acquired stakes in Nissan,
Ghosn was sent to Tokyo for another rescue.
At the time, the Japanese carmaker was $35 billion in debt.
But once again Ghosn stepped in with dramatic measures,
closing factories and laying off 1 out of every 7 workers.
In just six years, Nissan passed Honda to become Japan‘s number two automaker.
Now CEO after reviving the near-bankrupt company, Ghosn had earned another nickname for himself,
‘Mr Fix-It.’
In 2005, he was appointed CEO of Renault, making him the first executive
to helm two Fortune 500 companies simultaneously.
And in 2016, Ghosn became Mitsubishi’s chairman,
as the Japanese car manufacturer joined Renault and Nissan’s notable alliance.
The additional salary made Ghosn one of the auto industry’s best paid executives.
So what caused his downfall, turning him from one of the most powerful executives
in the auto industry to an international fugitive on Interpol’s red list?
For that, we have to delve into what he’s allegedly done wrong.
Carlos Ghosn’s first arrest was at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on November 2018,
charged with underreporting his earnings by about $48 million between 2010 and 2015.
He was arrested alongside Nissan’s former head of legal, Greg Kelly,
who is currently still in custody in Tokyo.
Ghosn’s fall from grace happened swiftly
following allegations of excessive and improper spending.
One of those allegations was that he threw a series of lavish parties at the Palace of Versailles.
In 2014, he spent more than $800,000 on an event to commemorate the 15th anniversary
of the Renault-Nissan alliance, an event which coincidentally fell on his 60th birthday.
In 2016, he hosted his own wedding at the Palais, which is the subject of a further
investigation by anti-fraud police in France, who claim company funds
were inappropriately funnelled to the value of more than $53,000.
Nissan has said that Ghosn had purchased and renovated properties
in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Amsterdam and Beirut using their funds.
They also say he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of company funds on family vacations
and even his children’s tuitions at Stanford University.
Lavish pay and perks certainly aren’t unheard of for a CEO.
But in Japan, where the median executive salary is nearly one-tenth of what it is in the U.S.,
it rubbed people the wrong way.
Ghosn’s leadership, and its associated cost cuts and lay-offs,
were pretty much imposed on Nissan by Renault.
His pay and management decisions only added to the building of resentment.
Well, there must have been scepticism, resentment at the beginning, when you came in.
That’s normal. I was expecting it.
I don’t want people to judge me or to judge Nissan on words.
I want them to judge on facts, and on performance.
Shortly after his 2018 arrest, Ghosn’s time at the helm of Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault
came to an end.
After spending more than 100 days in detainment, he was granted bail in March 2019.
That release was short-lived.
He was re-arrested a month later as Japanese prosecutors brought fresh charges against him.
This time, they claimed he illegally misappropriated $5 million from Nissan
between July 2017 and July 2018.
Ghosn maintained throughout this that these allegations are all unfounded and
are part of a coup to remove him from power.
Conditions of his second bail arrangement included house arrest
and 24-hour camera surveillance.
It was Ghosn’s next big move that captured the world’s attention.
At the end of December, Ghosn managed to leave his Tokyo home and travel to Osaka.
There, he snuck onto a private jet to flee to Istanbul, Turkey
and then another to his final destination: Beirut, Lebanon.
Lebanon received a “red notice” from Interpol, seeking Ghosn’s location, arrest and extradition.
Ghosn, who faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty,
has professed his innocence to the charges of financial misconduct.
However, Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan.
Japanese prosecutors have also issued a warrant for the arrest of Ghosn’s wife, Carole,
who is in Lebanon with her husband, on the basis of false statements made to a Japanese court.
Unlike her husband, she could be subject to an extradition request, due to her American passport.
Ghosn is also facing possible sanctions following a potential violation of Lebanese law
by visiting Israel, a country with strenuous ties to Lebanon, in 2008.
He has since apologized for the trip.
On January 8th, Ghosn spoke to the media for the first time since his 2018 arrest.
He cited many reasons for his escape, including the amount of time he had already spent
in custody without a date for his trial.
I have looked forward to this every single day for more than 400 days
since I was brutally taken from my world as I knew it.
This was the most difficult decision of my life,
but let us not forget that I was facing a system
where the conviction rate is 99.4 per cent.
The former executive told reporters he is willing to face trial for his alleged
financial misconduct in the three countries where he is a citizen - Lebanon, Brazil or France.
A lot of people perceive this as I’m running from justice,
which is really the last thing I want to do.
If I had some reassurance that I would get a fair trial in Japan,
and if there was a possibility for my wife to join me in Japan, I would have stayed in Japan.
Because this is the place where I should have defended my name and my reputation.
The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance is also at stake,
with the man who brought them together now out of the picture.
Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault were some of the worst-performing car stocks of 2019,
declining 28, 24 and 23-percent respectively.
And as Ghosn mounts his defence, he has already cast a spotlight on Japan’s judicial system
and the country’s reputation with foreign investors.
What if you have to spend the rest of your life in Lebanon, though?
Are you ready for that?
Well, it’s better than spending the rest of my life in Japan.
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